This photo released by Benoit Photo shows Gary and Mary West's Room Service and jockey Shaun Bridgmohan, right, pulling away from the field and go on to win the Grade I, $350,000 American Oaks, Saturday, May 31, 2014 at Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, Calif. (AP Photo/Benoit Photo)

ARCADIA — One of the toughest decisions that owners and trainers of talented race horses face is where and when to run their horses. A hundred grander here, a Grade I or II stakes race there. It’s a quandary that can keep a horse’s connections awake at nights.

But owners Gary and Mary West and Midwest-based trainer Wayne Catalano made the right call with their talented filly Room Service, bypassing the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 2 in favor of the $350,000 American Oaks on Saturday at Santa Anita Park.

The $1 million Kentucky Oaks is run on dirt. Heading into Saturday, Room Service had won two races on the turf and one on synthetic when she romped home by seven lengths in the Grade I Ashland Stakes over Keeneland’s Polytrack. She’s never raced on dirt.

Catalano shipped Room Service, a More Than Ready filly, to Churchill Downs after the Ashland to test the waters on dirt. When she didn’t train well over the main track, they turned their attention to Plan B – the American Oaks at 1 1/4 miles on the grass.

“This was our race if we weren’t going to run in the (Kentucky) Oaks,” Catalano said.

Turned out pretty well for Catalano and the Wests. The paycheck wasn’t as big, but Room Service, the 2-1 second choice, added another Grade I victory to her resume and picked up a handsome $210,000 first-place check for her connections.

Catalano was pleased the victory came in the Wests’ home state. He remembers how happy he was when he won the Louisiana Derby with Crypto Star in 1997 in his hometown of New Orleans.

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“They’re all great races when they’re Grade I’s,” Catalano said. “This is a little more special, being in (the Wests’) home town. I know how it feels. They’re always special when you’re at home.”

The race set up perfectly for Room Service, who’s now won four of seven races lifetime for earnings of $546,565. She was seventh early on in the eight-horse field for 3-year-old fillies under jockey Shaun Bridgmohan, but the first half-mile of 48.03 meant pacesetters Kissin Lucky Lips, Tiz the Key and Sweet Bliss had little left for the stretch.

“I was licking my chops,” Catalano said.

Bridgmohan and Room Service made their move around the far turn, taking the lead from Tiz the Key at the head of the stretch and then pulling away for a 2 1/4-length victory over Diversy Harbor. It was a neck farther back to Little Journey and Tiz the Key finished fourth.

“We had a perfect trip,” Bridgmohan said. “It really set up well for her style of running. We obviously wanted a little pace to run at and we got it. I happened to work her on the grass at Churchill (five furlongs on May 6) and she’s got a great turn of foot on it. She showed that here today.”

The winning time was 2:01.28 for a race that was started at Hollywood Park in 2002 and was held for the first time at Santa Anita. It was the fastest running since Gozzip Girl’s 2:00.22 in 2009.

Talamo didn’t know if Nashoba’s Gold would have won with a cleaner trip, but he said they’d have definitely hit the board.

“It got a little tight around the quarter pole,” he said. “I was going for a spot, but that’s horse racing. I really had a good trip up to that point. Actually, me and the winner were kind of moving at the same point. I was going for a hole but they just had a little more momentum and we got squeezed a little bit out of there ... it cost her a lot of momentum.”

•Earlier, Clubhouse Ride won his first race in a year when he rallied along the rail to upset 1-2 favorite Fury Kapcori by a half-length in the $200,000 Grade II Californian Stakes – the major prep for the $500,000 Gold Cup on June 29 at Santa Anita.

Ridden by Talamo, Clubhouse Ride dueled with pace-setting Fury Kapcori virtually the length of the stretch before prevailing and posting his first victory since winning last year’s Californian at Hollywood Park on June 1.

Sent postward as the second choice at 6-1, Clubhouse Ride ran the 1 1/8 miles on the main track in 1:48.74 and trainer Craig Lewis said the Gold Cup is a “strong likelihood.”